US and Iraqi forces sealed off roads to an insurgent stronghold south of Baghdad yesterday and militants bombed two bridges in an apparent bid to hinder troop movement as pro-government forces tried to retake control of the region ahead of national elections.
On Tuesday, Iraq's Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said the tempo of attacks against insurgent strongholds would increase but acknowledged that the security challenge was a "source of worry."
"I don't want to deny the impact of the security situation nor minimize the size of the challenges we face," Allawi said during a speech in Baghdad.
More than 3,000 US and Iraqi forces on Tuesday launched a major operation to retake control of insurgent-held parts of Babil province -- an area notorious for kidnappings and ambushes and home to the fabled city of Babylon. The Babil operation followed last week's move to oust insurgent forces from Samarra.
The Marines and Iraqis punched their way across the Euphrates River, rounded up 160 suspects, seized a suspected training camp and took control of a major bridge, the US command said. The bridge, spanning the Euphrates, is believed to be a favored corridor linking insurgent areas around Baghdad, Fallujah and towns farther south.
Yesterday, US soldiers and Iraqi National Guardsmen were sealing off the roads leading to Qasir town in the area of Youssifiyah, preventing anybody from going in or out. A day earlier, insurgents detonated a car bomb in Youssifiyah, 20km south of the capital, as the Iraqi National Guard was conducting raids, killing one civilian and wounding 13 Iraqis.
Two explosions -- one a car bomb another a roadside bomb -- hit two bridges in the area yesterday, residents said, in an apparent attempt by insurgents to affect the movement of Iraqi and US forces.
In Fallujah, US-led forces unleashed a strike early yesterday on a suspected safe house in rebel-held Fallujah where leaders of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terrorist network were believed to be meeting, the military said in a statement.
Three houses were flattened in the air strike, witnesses said. There were no casualties reported, said Dr. Dhiya al-Jumaili.
In Basra, a roadside bomb exploded as a British patrol was crossing a bridge, killing one Iraqi and injuring 10 others, police said.
Also See Story:
Irish passport may save UK hostage in Iraq
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RSS